Dalit scholars, activists slam systemic exploitation

ISLAMABAD: Distinct and considered political representation of Dalits in South Asian countries is a prerequisite for their socio-economic uplift.

This was the unanimous viewpoint of social scientists and scholars from Pakistan, India and the UK, mostly representing the Dalit or scheduled classes of the Subcontinent, who spoke in a webinar organised by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).

The first-of-its-kind dialogue, titled ‘South Asia, Neo-Communal Settings and Implications for Social Democracy’ connected Dalit scholars across political boundaries to understand and discuss the conditions, deprivations and reservations of the scheduled castes in South Asia, especially Pakistan and India, while trying to identify a way forward for their elevation.

The panellists included Prof Meena Dhanda from University of Wolverhampton; Prof Dr Sumeet Mhaskar from Jindal Global University; Prof Amit Thorat from Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr Abhay Kumar, Indian scholar and journalist; Asif Aqeel, a journalist and researcher from Pakistan’s Christian-Dalit community; Faqir Shiva Kachhi, president, Darawat Ittehad; Sarwan Kumar Bheel Advocate, a social activist from Tharparkar; Heba Ahmed, research scholar, Centre for Political Studies, JNU; Dr Sunaina Arya, JNU research fellow and editor of Dalit Feminist Theory: A Reader.

From IPS research faculty Dr Shahzad Iqbal Sham, Sufi Ghulam Hussain, Nadeem Farhat Gilani, and Agha Noor Muhammad Pathan participated in the discussion, while the session was chaired by Khalid Rahman, the Institute’s executive president.

Dalit speakers from Pakistan said the upper caste Hindus were a small minority and they cannot represent the Dalits who were in a majority. They said the upper castes continue to ignore the issues of the scheduled castes and hence should not be seen as their representatives. The situation in India was no different where Lok Sabha too hardly featured any representatives from the scheduled castes although they constituted a major share of the population.

The speakers were unanimous that scheduled caste Dalits did not enjoy their due share of representation at any level. They said the Dalits were constantly being deprived of education, employment and socio-economic opportunities whereas their rights were being violated.